The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs worldwide is massive, and this is only going to get worse.
It’s safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s inevitable that at some point in time someone will attempt to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered web sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are attacked every year! Could your website be next?
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
According to the Cnet report,
“With some old-fashioned trickery, hackers were able to get more than 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered Web sites to mount a distributed-denial-of-service attack against another Web site.”
(Source: cnet.com/news/ddos-attack-is-launched-from-162000-wordpress-sites)
As described by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WP websites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that your site offers no value to hackers, but the reality is that all websites are valuable to a malicious user.
If hackers can find a security vulnerability, your web site can then be used as part of a larger network of “bots” to target other valued sites.
The reality is that brute-force software bots are very likely searching for security exploits and trying to hack into your blog right now. Whether they will break into your site successfully depends on how hard you have made it for hackers or bots to continue persisting until they discover a way to get access, or give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information About Your WordPress Site Are You Broadcasting To Hackers?
Does your website run on WordPress? If so visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(Hackertarget – WordPress Security Scan Source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the scan will display a number of results and information about your WordPress setup …
(website security scan results. Product image: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using the tool shown above that if you are able to access all of this information about your site, then hackers can too.
(Product image source: BlogDefender website)
The ability to see which version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories on your server can all be potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about exploitable vulnerabilities, especially in older versions.
Fortunately, there is a solution that can stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and help to protect it against other malicious threats.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a suite of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus a WordPress security PDF/DOC file.
Matt Garrett, the creator of BlogDefender began to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother got hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This blog was quite new and so had practically no value to offer, yet it still was attacked.
Matt only became aware of the event after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of suspicious activity had occurred within his server, as well as the addition of several phishing files designed to drive unsuspecting victims to the site and hijack Paypal account details.
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Matt’s experience provides the valuable lesson that every website has some value to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where potential security weaknesses in your WordPress installation are …
And let’s you fix these quickly …
Blog Defender – Plugins
The Blog Defender security suite comes with 3 WordPress plugins:
Plugin #1 in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Source: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure site, file and data backups to your server, third-party servers and well-known cloud-based solutions using different backup methods, perform full or partial backups, exclude tables or files from backups, restore previous backups, replace URLs (for site migrations), search and replace text strings in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Pro Plugin #2 “WP Security” provides your WP website or blog with security …
(Screenshot: BlogDefender site)
Plugin #2 “WP Security” performs a range of vital file and site security functions (see “Plugin Features” section below).
Pro Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” scans your plugins, WordPress themes and WordPress core files to see if anything has been changed, and repair any problems detected …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #3 “WordPress Scan & Repair” also scans content to see if any malicious scripts have been added to your site, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your work without reciprocating the favor).
Blog Defender – Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender security suite also includes several video guides and downloadable guides that will teach you exactly what you need to do to protect your website from malicious users …
(Image source: BlogDefender.com)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your website:
Fast Installation
The plugins included in the Blog Defender product suite install like any plugin. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your admin user login and activate.
Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a practical training product that takes you through the website security process and shows you what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free WordPress plugins you should use to get the job done.
Some additional benefits include:
- Secure your WordPress website from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users attempting to ruin your business for personal and financial gain at your expense.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you are an info product creator (e.g. downloadable e-books, videos, etc.), your product can end up becoming freeware on free sharing sites.
- Avoid A Nightmare Situation – When a website has been hacked, you can expect to go through a great deal of frustration and aggravation. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. In the meantime, your, blog can get suspended by your webhost, or even blocked by search engines. In addition, your personal contacts could be spammed, your customer list and financial details can be stolen, you could be fined or even charged with fraud, and a whole lot more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender provides a number of great features to web site owners.
The product covers the following issues:
- Host Security Advisory
- WP Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WordPress Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hiding WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam
- Monitoring Files
- Link Tracking
- Block Known Offenders
- Automating Core WP Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tightening Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender uses a logical sequence of steps to help protect your web site, addressing hosting security, using tools to identify risky WP themes and WordPress plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender security process. Screenshot image: Blog Defender)
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials that plugin customers have provided for the Blog Defender product suite:
“You are literally walked through the process!” Nikki Stephens, www.nikkistephens.com
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”Just one tip could have prevented my blogs getting hacked!” Richard Legg – www.richard-legg.com
Useful Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, since Blog Defender’s first release, no Blog Defender-protected sites were hacked.
The product developer states on his site, however …
“With the volume of attacks nowadays … we probably won’t hold forever, so we’ve been busy creating even tougher WordPress security.”
The war on hackers is is a never-ending game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and technologies that developers can access. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier WordPress security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, won’t cost a fortune and it’s as good if not better than many premium security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Product Support
The product is well-supported, can be used by both Mac and PC users, is compatible with the latest WordPress release and is backed by a risk-free, 30 day, 100% refund guarantee.
Software Price
Blog Defender is normally available with a personal license only for use on unlimited sites. When we last checked, however, it was also being sold with Developer rights, allowing users to secure client sites as well.. Cost = $47.00.
Note: The price of the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the software retails for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product seller when you visit the product website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
The Bottom Line
Regardless of the type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot ignore the importance of securing your web sites.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting basic maintenance tasks like making sure that your WP installation, WP plugins and WP themes are kept up-to-date, tightening file and data protection and taking other necessary precautions can have disastrous consequences.
Adopting a security procedure such as the one that Blog Defender provides, will help you learn what’s going on in your site and where the vulnerabilities are, what hosting companies can and can’t do if the security on your site is compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your installation easier.
For complete details, visit the plugin website here: Blog Defender
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